Long time ago, I had the luxury of what people consider surreal of knocking off on time every day, granted Public Holidays and all weekends off, and not having to work when you're on sick leave, on paid holiday and after-hours. These days I find myself trying to comprehend what's going on in my life. It seems, the further I dive into social media, the more I lose the luxury of me-time. I'm always on call it seems. Emails and whatsapp messages just keep coming in no matter where you are and what time it is.
It seems Singaporeans hardly have an idea on what work/life balance is. And fortunately, I was with John Wiley & Sons for a good two years that clearly showed me what it really should be. We were discouraged to work after-hours, on weekends and public holidays. When we're sick, we be sick. We recuperate and get well, get ample rest so that we could return to work asap. If you're sick and replying emails, your boss in the UK is going to question whether you're really sick. If you have to work after-hours and on weekends, it shows you're unproductive during your usual working hours. That was their culture for you. I didn't mention that we too received an additional half day off before every ethnical holiday in Singapore because people in the UK/US understand that when Malays and Indians get to enjoy half day off prior CNY and Xmas, then Chinese too should enjoy half day off before their new year. Make sense?
The irony is, no Singapore company I've worked in practises this even though the country prides itself highly on celebrating multi-racial, multi-religion.
Singaporeans have a warped idea of the entire paragraph I wrote above. If you are sick, you should be replying emails and texts. If you don't work after-hours and on weekends, you're lazy. That's something I cannot seem to understand. Such cynical thinking it is isn't it?
I miss my life back then in the publishing industry. Where authors, professors and doctors were a better bunch of people to deal with. Not to mention, the perks that John Wiley spoilt me with have now been deeply etched into me. It has raised the bar to this high that no company (except for Google) could top.
Where I would walk into the office not worrying about politics, plugged in to my music as I worked throughout the morning, in an environment where it's conducive, quiet and peaceful. I miss the two hour lunches my colleagues and I take every day, just sitting at the pantry, talking about ideas, politics instead of gossiping about people. I miss knocking off at 5:30pm and walking down to the lobby to see the black Mazda waiting for me.
I've finally learnt that fame and prestige isn't what I'm after, after all. I want to be careless but be recognized as an academist, someone who's into books and literature. I don't wish to write ostentatious press releases nor fancy copies. I don't enjoy the limelight of the social media world because it's so pressurizing to have to deal with the internet crowd. If you've been in social media for a while, you would totally get what I mean. Some people just have venomous tongue and there are people born evil.
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